I thank the Minister for that. I think that’s clearly what Members want to see, is a policy clearly laid out that is going to identify what the rules of engagement are for the Government of the Northwest Territories when it comes to entering into partnerships.
I know the Minister stated money is not everything. That’s right, it isn’t everything, but at the end of the day, what is everything is responsibility and risk. You have to share the risk. In order to be in a partnership, you’ve got to share some of the risk.
With the Deh Cho Bridge project we took on all that risk and now we know how that’s played itself out. We got into a partnership there that we couldn’t get out of and we’re going to be paying the price for the next 35 years for that Deh Cho Bridge project, and in this instance we paid all along. Every time you turned around in the life of the last government, I can remember it was like clockwork, every six or seven months the former Premier would come forward and ask us to approve another loan guarantee for the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. We’ve also approved loan guarantees in the past for the Taltson expansion.
Again, I think the bottom line for me is somebody, somewhere, has got to protect the public purse from exposure to risk, and we haven’t done that. The Auditor General of Canada has clearly indicated that in her report on the Deh Cho Bridge, and if the Auditor General of Canada came and had a look at our involvement in the Taltson expansion, I’m sure that they would come to the same conclusion that the Government of the Northwest Territories enters into these partnerships and assumes all the risk, and the risk is on the taxpayers here in the Northwest Territories, not on anybody else.
Again, my frustration is with our inability to manage the public purse in a fashion that would benefit a government. We just do not do that. We throw that around. Then when things go sideways or the project gets derailed, who pays the price? It’s the taxpayers in the Northwest Territories. Again, I think somebody has got to be looking out for the residents here in the Northwest Territories, all the residents, and protecting that public purse wherever possible. Thank you.